IAMM features modern Pakistan in photographs

Source: IAMM website.

From 26 October to 31 January 2016 the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) will be hosting a photography exhibition, Portrayal of Pakistan by Awais Yaqub, at the Open Space Gallery.

The exhibition shows modern Pakistan through the lens of the photographer. Pakistan is a country with diverse religious beliefs, despite being a predominantly Muslim society. The exhibition also features various aspects of culture of both ancient and traditional in which represented through its sports and festivals. 

Tent pegging, a cavalry sport of ancient origin and semi-nomads of Cholistan, will be featured. Another interesting segment is the tradition of truck art.

Awais, based in Islamabad, Pakistan, got his first camera in 2004.

Interested?

Follow @awaisyaqub on Instagram
Check opening hours

View Egyptian tents at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

Source: IAMM website. An Egyptian
ceremonial tent.

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) has launched Khayamiya: Khedival to Contemporary, a cooperative effort between the IAMM and guest curator Dr Sam Bowker of Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Khayamiya, derived from the Arabic 'khayam' (خيمة, tent), is the Egyptian art of tent-making. It is created using a hand-appliqué technique in which fabric pieces are cut, folded and skilfully hand-sewn to canvas, producing impressive tents and wall hangings. These vibrant textiles are widely used in ceremonial contexts such as weddings, funerals, street parties and religious events.

This exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the evolution of khayamiya from the late Ottoman Empire to the present day. Some of the highlights include the Syme Panel (the first Khedival khayamiya to be discovered in Australia), and rarely-seen monumental tent panels from the Bowker Collection. The IAMM will be displaying one of its most treasured objects, a complete 19th-century Egyptian tent, to demonstrate that khayamiya is a sophisticated textile art form with a rich legacy of Islamic design influences.

Interested?

The exhibition runs till 31st January 2016. Check the museum opening hours

Contemporary art from Turkey on show at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

Source: Islamic Arts Museum
Malaysia website. Erol
Akyavaş, Locus of
Extremity, 1982.

The Tradition, Culture and Modernity: Contemporary Art from Turkey exhibition runs till 31 January at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. 

The exhibition showcases 26 artworks from 17 artists from the collection of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Curated by Professor Mümtaz Sağlam, an academician and art critic from Turkey, this exhibition highlights the concepts that assumed increasing importance during the process of westernisation.

The Turkish painting movement began in the 1800s with Osman Hamdi Bey of the Academy of Fine Arts, with the sultans sending artists to Europe to learn, and inviting European artists to Turkey to teach. Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1923), Turkish painters were influenced by French Impressionism but avoided reproducing the human form in alignment with the teachings of Islam, though some began hinting at it after the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. By the 1980s the Turkish art scene had embraced various modern art movements.

Erol Akyavaş (1932-1999) was the first Turkish artist to have his work included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1961, when he was 29 years old. His style evolved greatly during in his 50-year career. Always combining east with west, he has included abstracts of calligraphy in his early work and is known for geometric representations of architecture and labyrinths as motifs. 

Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia opens photography exhibition on Quranic collection

In celebration of the launch of its newest publication, Al-Qur’an: The Sacred Art of Revelation (Volume II), the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) is highlighting the Quran in an exhibition running from early October to the end of 2014. 

Source: IAMM website.

The photography exhibition of the same title introduces the newly published catalogue to the public. Now in its second edition, the catalogue features the latest IAMM collection of Quranic manuscripts, categorised into a range of dynasties and geographical settings.

The exhibition displays 12 sets of Qur’an leaf images with each set consisting of Surah Al Fatihah and the first page of Surah Al Baqarah. These sets of scripts will illustrate the different designs of the Quran that have been bound in different periods and places in the Islamic world. Manuscripts from Iran, Turkey, China and the Malay world are included.

Take a virtual tour of the museum here.